


When We Grow Up

by AuroraKant



Series: Whumptober2020 [5]
Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types, New Teen Titans
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Crying, Friendship, Gen, Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, Non-Graphic Torture, Swearing, Team as Family, The Original Teen Titans, When You Just Wanted Pizza But Get Tortured Instead, Whump
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-06
Updated: 2020-10-06
Packaged: 2021-03-08 04:27:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,076
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26859685
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AuroraKant/pseuds/AuroraKant
Summary: His ears were still filled with the echoes of pain, the bastard’s voice almost inaudible, when he spoke next:“Another round? Or are you ready to tell me?”“Fuck you, you absolute bastard!”Donna’s voice was strong, cutting through the pain keeping Dick afloat, and he was grateful for it. He would always be grateful for Donna Troy.Especially since she hadn’t answered him. She hadn’t answered the question about H.I.V.E.Or: The OG Team gets caught - Dick gets tortured... his friends are there for him.Day 6: "Get it Out" | No More |"Stop, Please"
Relationships: Dick Grayson & Roy Harper, Garth & Dick Grayson & Roy Harper & Donna Troy & Wally West
Series: Whumptober2020 [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1948651
Comments: 22
Kudos: 258
Collections: Whumptober 2020





	When We Grow Up

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Fandom_Trash224](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fandom_Trash224/gifts).



> Hello!   
> And welcome to another round in this wonderful month we call October! I hope you like this Twilly!!!
> 
> Thank you all so much for the feedback I have been getting - Comments, Love, Support, Kudos and Bookmarks are what keeps me going! <3<3<3<3

It had been a trap, and the Titans had stepped right into it.

That was all Dick could think about as the shackles on his arms got tightened, his entire body being lifted into the air, the weight on his wrists almost impossible to bear. He should really cut back the pizza, a dry voice that sounded suspiciously like Alfred commented in his head.

Across from him he could see the same thing being done to Donna, Roy, Garth, and Wally. The OG Team together and about to get fucked. But sadly, not in the fun way, no, this was most likely going to be rather painful.

It’d been… a celebration of sorts. All of them had gotten older over the last few years, other responsibilities piling up on top of the Superhero business, and the five of them only rarely managed to get together anymore. Once upon a time they had been a family, knit tighter than even the best jumper Alfred could produce, but these days Donna was married, Wally and Roy had kids, and Garth had royal duties down in Atlantis.

Sometimes it seemed as if all of them had grown up, except for Dick.

Dick, who still took care of the Titans, who still had his single apartment and a flimsy day job.

Dick, who hadn’t married and settled down, not because he didn’t want to, but because something else always came first.

So, when the mission alert blared while they all enjoyed a glass of wine (and some juice for Roy) together for once, it had seemed like the perfect opportunity for some nostalgia. A mission together just like in the good old days.

Now, Dick knew that it’d been too perfect.

It was a set-up.

And once the Titans sprung the trap, the villain had gotten exactly what they’d asked for: five heroes and enough time to make it painful.

“What do you want?”

Roy yelled from his spot on the opposite wall, his voice rough and angry. Roy always got angry when he couldn’t get home to Lian on time – apparently his babysitter demanded quite a bit of money for extra hours.

That, and no matter how often you went through it and survived it, being captured and tortured was never fun.

Dick should know, he’d been doing this the longest.

No one answered Roy, the faceless goons continuing in their efforts to secure them all. No Big Bad had presented themselves yet, and the longer that went on, the more Dick worried. Villains tended to love the sound of their own voice, monologuing and spitting insults merely for the dramatics. But no one was here, informing them of their untimely demise yet.

The dread in his stomach really started to sink in, however, when Dick noticed that the bindings holding Garth and Donna up had anti-magic crystals woven into them. There was a shower head over Garth’s place on the wall, and yet they had made sure the Atlantean wouldn’t be able to use his water magic.

This wasn’t just a trap for some Titans… this was a trap for the five of them especially.

 _Fuck_.

Dick strained against his bindings, but nothing gave. Not even an inch of movement was possible, and from the corner of his eyes, he could see that it was the same for his friends. No escape possible, at least not in the traditional way.

Maybe Raven would check the mission log once she got back to the tower, or Kory and Gar would notice that something was amiss. The three of them should have no problem saving them. That was, of course, if Dick and his friends managed to survive until then.

The faceless goons fled the room, and for a moment Dick allowed himself to be confused, before he focused on the man that had stepped inside as the others went.

He was tall, his face a blank canvas, his body dressed in black. And even though he had just as little features as the people securing them (were they even people?) Dick instantly knew that this was the leader. This was the bad guy.

“Welcome. I hope your accommodations are to your taste?”

“Fuck you.” Donna exclaimed, something feral in her gaze.

“Yeah, like, honestly, could we just not do this? I havetobehomebeforemywifenoticesthatIsaidyestoNightwingwhenIshouldhavesaidno”

“Thanks, man”

Dick had planned on staying silent, on observing their opponent before engaging, but Wally’s ramble had distracted him. And up until now it was just a routine capture, even if the feeling in his stomach told him otherwise.

So, why shouldn’t they banter like they usually did?

“I mean, he is right, Robbie. You asked. We all knew better. We all said yes.”

Roy clinked himself into their conversation, and suddenly it was like the golden days again, back when all of them had been younger, less burdened by the world. Dick even thought Garth might be grinning when he answered:

“Don’t be so mean to Rob, _Speedy_. We stole a car for you once, this is nothing in comparison to that.”

“ _Excuse you_? You stole that car because I told Red Arrow that I wanted a car to take on a spin and he told you. Please get your facts straight.”

Donna’s voice sounded exasperated, and Dick couldn’t help himself as a smile stretched across his face. These people were his friends, and he missed them, but whenever they shared moments like this, he was suddenly reminded that… that they were still his family, even now, where they had families of their own.

It couldn’t stay that way forever – neither the life they shared as kids, nor this moment of levity. The man in the middle of the room made a horrible scoffing noise, returning the attention of everyone currently shackled to a wall to him:

“Sorry to interrupt. This is all really fascinating, I am sure, but there is something I need from you, and the sooner I get it, the sooner you can go again.”

“Yeah, sure-“

Roy was ready to give counter, but before he could finish speaking the man had swept across the room in the blink of an eye, his hand connecting with Roy’s cheek with a loud snap. That had been inhumanly fast, and not in the way Wally used his speed to cross a room. No, this had felt more like a shadow moving.

But in contrast to a shadow, the slap had sounded very, very real. And painful.

“Hey!”

All four of them exclaimed their protests simultaneously, and once again Dick was reminded of the fact that they had spent years annoying each other, forming bonds so deep it was impossible to break them even over distance and time.

“God, are you always this annoying?”

The bad guy – should Dick ask for a name? – was sighing deeply, before he turned around and stalked back into the center of the room, where he could keep an eye on all of them easier.

 _Yes_ , Dick wanted to answer, _yes, and we can be so much worse_. But before he could do that, black smoke filled his mouth, making it impossible to even utter a single sound. Panic cursed through his veins, and when he searched the room with his eyes, he noticed that all of his friends had suffered a similar fate.

They had been muffled, and from what it looked like, it had only cost the bad guy a flicker of his hand:

“So, that should do for now. You will be able to talk again soon enough, I just need some quiet for now. Because I have a question and I am ready to hurt you should you not answer, okay?”

He didn’t wait for an answer, instead looking everyone of them into the eyes before saying:

“Who and what is H.I.V.E. and how do they operate?”

The shadows filling their mouth fell away, and Dick made the very crucial mistake of answering first:

“No.”

Suddenly the bad guy – a name! They really needed a name! – was standing in front of him, his eyes meeting Dick’s, the stare so intense, Dick had to suppress the urge to swallow. There was a contemplative look on the guy’s face that Dick didn’t like.

“You are Nightwing, right?”

“Yes.”

There was no need to lie, not about something like this.

“And you are the leader of this merry group of heroes, yes? You were in charge back then as well, weren’t you? Little Robin against the big bad H.I.V.E.”

This time Dick didn’t answer, his mouth closed, steel in his eyes. He wouldn’t give up restricted information that easily. He wouldn’t offer up his life and that of his friends so easily.

“Oh, no answer. Well, I will have to get it out of you another way then. As a leader you’re probably the one who knows the most – wrote all the little reports and such.”

That was the moment his friends made a mistake. Dick wasn’t sure if they had simply miscalculated or if their well-oiled machine had to fail sometimes, or if there had never been a different outcome then the one they got, but when the bad guy started to threaten Dick, his friends tried to defend him:

“Get away from him!”

“We know just as much as he does!”

“Ask someone who’s as creepy as you!”

They couldn’t see the smile on the bad guy’s face, they couldn’t see the victorious gleam in his eyes. This time Dick couldn’t quell his need to swallow. The situation was turning south fast.

The creepy bastard turned around, his back to Dick, his arms opened wide, as if he was trying to welcome the entire room to the horror show Dick could already see brewing on the horizon. And in a way he was welcoming them, since his friends would be forced to watch whatever happened next.

There was no doubt that there would be _something_ to watch, and that Dick would be the one to scream. The eyes of the bad guy had promised him that much.

“If you all know so much about this case, about your continuous battle with H.I.V.E. then I can break that one, right?”

The bastard was pointing at him, and Dick could see the realization hit his friends. He could feel it in the loud fury of Roy’s yell, in the cold anger burning in Garth’s eyes, in the rage twisting Donna’s mouth, in the panic blurring Wally’s hands.

They were angry for him. They were angry for him because they knew that there was nothing they could do. The bad guy’s voice made that clear as well: there would be no bargaining and begging, there would only be pain.

It was even shittier because all of them knew that they couldn’t allow themselves to break. No matter what Dick would be forced to endure, to survive, to withstand… his friends would not utter even a single word of the case they had been asked about. And Dick wouldn’t want them to.

“Then let’s get started: Who is the leader of H.I.V.E.?”

The smoke came back, invading Dick’s mouth no matter how much he struggled. It pried open his jaw, sneaking in through his nose, touching his eyes and ears. He was trying to twist his head away from it, but the smoke didn’t care and the restrains hold tight.

Soon it got harder and harder to breathe, Dick gagging as the smoke liquified, pouring down into his stomach, settling like stone in his intestines. Nothing hurt yet, and that was what scared Dick the most.

Nothing hurt yet, only breathing was a bit strenuous, and it was hard to see his friends through the fog in front of his eyes.

Dick wasn’t prepared for the horror to come.

“I asked you a question! Come, come!”

No answer. Because his friends knew what was more important. Because they couldn’t prepare for what this dude would do as soon as he had the information. Because they all knew they wouldn’t be freed even if they gave up.

“Okay, you wanted this.”

A yell tore itself free from Dick’s throat before he even had a chance to realize that he was in pain. And, oh, how much it hurt, his neurons catching up with the searing sensation in his gut. He was screaming, his ears ringing, his eyes pressed shut.

He could feel hot tears drip down his cheeks, escaping through the spirit gum holding his mask in place. His skin was burning, his lungs aflame, and all he could do was scream, trying to keep the sobs at bay.

It felt like an eternity when finally, the pain eased, leaving Dick exhausted and soaked in sweat. Lights danced through his vision, when he blinked them open, and through the tears obscuring his vison, Dick could see his friends scream and rage and yell.

His ears were still filled with the echoes of pain, the bastard’s voice almost inaudible, when he spoke next:

“Another round? Or are you ready to tell me?”

“Fuck you, you absolute bastard!”

Donna’s voice was strong, cutting through the pain keeping Dick afloat, and he was grateful for it. He would always be grateful for Donna Troy.

Especially since she hadn’t answered him. She hadn’t answered the question about H.I.V.E.

This time Dick was prepared when the pain hit, but nothing could really prepare you for a sensation of all-encompassing agony. Every single nerve in his body was ice, the crystals piercing his flesh and tearing him apart. He could feel his body begging to give up, could feel his mind bend as well.

He wouldn’t beg.

Not yet.

He let himself get swallowed by the ice, let himself disappear in the corners of his mind Bruce had taught him about, thinking of nothing at all, only surviving.

Relief came what felt like an eternity later, and Dick didn’t even try to pry his eyes open this time. It felt like too much effort, too much energy spent on something that wouldn’t keep him alive.

“Just one information and he won’t suffer anymore.”

Nobody answered the shadowy bastard, and Dick vanished once more.

The pain came and went after that, tearing him apart, with moments of rest in between, barely long enough to let him breathe. Dick could feel his mind break, could feel the shattered remains of his will get lost in the wind. If the bad guy would ask Dick now, Dick would answer – even if he wasn’t sure if words were still his, if he could still use his tongue to speak, or if he had bitten it off long ago. He didn’t even know what exactly the bad guy wanted, pieces of memories strewn around, the world no longer making any sense.

But nobody asked him.

All he did was scream. It was all he was good for.

There was a commotion, some distant part of his brain noticed. Voices and noises and pain humming weakly through his body.

Someone was touching him… and… and Dick had enough. He couldn’t keep the sobs at bay any longer, his mind finally caving:

“I’m sorry… please, stop… please, no, I can’t… please, stop hurting me… no, I don’t… please…”

His throat felt raw, just another pinprick in a sea of pain, but Dick kept on begging. He couldn’t bear another round of torture; he couldn’t carry on under the weight of agony cursing through his veins. He let himself fall, a sobbing mess of a broken man.

The only surprise was that someone caught him.

* * *

Shit. Fuck. Ass. Bitch-ass Motherfucker.

Roy would show the bastard hurting his best friend what Red Arrow was made off as soon as he managed to free himself from these shitty ass manacles. In a way it helped that Dick was screaming himself bloody on the other side of the room, the attention of the bastard restraining them too focused on Nightwing to really notice that every single hero in the room was currently freeing themselves.

Roy had one of his wrists free already, but from now on he would have to be cautious. One wrong move and their entire escape attempt would fail. If the asshole turned around in the wrong moment for one, or if one of them accidentally moved their freed limbs too soon… it would all end in shambles.

At the same time Roy did his best to be fast.

From the looks of it Dick didn’t have that much life left inside of him, and it was crucial that they got the big boy out of this before it all went up in flames. They couldn’t afford to lose Nightwing, and Roy couldn’t bear to lose his best friend.

Who would sing Lian lullabies in alien languages if not Dick? Who would cuddle and watch rom-coms with him, without making fun of Roy for crying?

Man, the two of them had been forever, Roy wouldn’t let some bimbo on an ego-trip cut that time short.

His second wrist was free as well, and Roy sent a curious glance into the room. Donna was completely free as well, Wally had one last leg shackle to conquer – extra measures had been made to secure the speedster – and Garth looked ready to murder someone.

But then again, Fish Boy always looked ready for murder when someone dared to lay hand one of the Titans. Or Dick.

Fuck it, all of them were ready to kill, if that meant protecting the asshole they had sworn to love and follow. The Titans meant family, and like every family they sometimes sucked at it, but they sure as hell were loyal to a fault.

You couldn’t just hurt one of them and expect to get away with it.

Roy did his best to ignore the tears and screams of his best friend that soaked through every stone and muscle. It was impossible to escape the noise, and as Roy made eye contact with Donna, he knew that she was just as ready to end this than he was.

The fingers in her right hand started to count down – three, two, one… and then all of them sprung into action. It was a quick battle, no, scratch that, it was barely a battle at all.

The bastard might have tricked them when they ran into his trap like a bunch of junior heroes, but four Titans against one shadow dude was not even a real fight. Between Roy, Donna, Wally, and Garth little more than a wisp of smoke remained of the man that had brought all of them so much pain.

But Dick most of all.

Their friend was still secured against the wall, his arms – heck, his entire body – shaking like a leaf in a winter storm. Tears were running down his cheeks, and Roy could see blood in the corner of his mouth, hopefully just from a bitten tongue, and not from something more serious.

It was Donna who stepped forward first, her hands cautious as she tried to open Dick’s restraint. The man had stopped screaming, but the soft whimpers that escaped Dick were so much worse. In all the time Roy had known Dick, had fought by his side, had grieved and raged and loved with him… he had only seen Dick this broken down a handful of times.

None of them had been good. None of them had been enjoyable.

For neither of them, but looking at the pain etched into Dick’s face, there was no question for whom it was worse.

Donna’s voice was calm and collected when she touched Dick’s shoulder:

“Hey, it’s us. We have to get those shackles off you, so we can get you back to Titan’s Tower.”

That was when the begging started:

“I’m sorry… please, stop… please, no, I can’t… please, stop hurting me… no, I don’t… please…”

Every _please_ sent waves of horror crashing down on Roy, every mumbled sorry crushed his heart. Dick was sobbing and begging, and he so, so clearly didn’t recognize them in his panic.

And there was nothing much they could do.

Donna was freeing Dick from his restrains, their friend falling into Garth’s waiting arms the moment the support keeping him upright was gone.

All the while he didn’t stop begging. He didn’t stop sobbing.

There was fire burning bright in Donna’s eyes, and Roy could feel the rage bubbling in his own stomach as well. They would burn this place to the ground, and everyone who stood in their way, would burn as well.

Nobody hurt their Dick only to walk away.

Garth was carefully cradling Dick against his chest, the Fish Boy having grown into a man at some point in the last few years. Sometimes the whiplash got to him, Roy heard one of them speak, and when he looked, it weren’t their young and excitable faces waiting for him – they were adults now, their faces tired and weary.

At some point Roy had stopped looking and in that time all of them had grown up.

Wally and Donna made up their offence, Roy unwilling to leave Dick and Garth alone.

Vaguely Roy could hear the sounds of fists hitting flesh, of speed causing chaos in front of him, but his gaze stayed firmly on Dick, on the bloodless lips uttering countless pleas and apologies. For what Dick was sorry, Roy had no idea.

But Dick was a self-sacrificing idiot, so there was probably something he was sorry for.

“Knock it out, Short Pants, we’ve got you and we are going to get you out of here.”

A sigh escaped Dick and for a moment Roy feared he had made it even worse, but then a small smile twisted the corners of Dick’s mouth upwards. His face seemed to relax – if only just a little bit.

Roy and Garth exchanged a look, a grin threatening to appear on Roy’s face:

“Robbie, everything will be alright. Fish Boy and Eagle-Eyes got your back. Nobody is gonna touch you anymore.”

“Listen to Speedy, Rob, just like in old times – the two of you getting us in trouble and Wonder Girl and I saving all our asses.”

Neither of them worked under these names anymore, Donna becoming Troja long ago, Dick leaving Robin and taking to the sky as Nightwing before he could legally drink. Garth had been Tempest for some time now, Wally never getting a choice in becoming the Flash. Red Arrow had been Roy’s rebirth, his second chance.

And yet he would always stay Speedy, at least a part of him would.

He could only imagine it was the same for his friends.

They reached the door leading out of the compound without trouble, goons unconscious on the floor every few feet. Donna hadn’t pulled her punches, and by the looks of it, neither had Wally.

Dickie had fallen silent in Garth’s arms and when Roy looked again, he could see that the man was sleeping. Something quiet had been cast over him, the obvious distress gone. Dick looked tired and beaten, and he would need love and a good night’s rest to get back on his feet… but right now Roy knew that everything would turn out alright.

Dick would survive, and they would be fine, just as they always were. They were the Titans, and the Titans were forever.

Donna and Wally joined Garth and him where they stood, all of them looking at the building they has just so desperately escaped from. It was Wally who spoke first, something bittersweet in his voice:

“How about we blow this popsicle stand quite literally – and on the way home we can get some pizza, I am sure Robbie wants some too, when he wakes up.”

Roy couldn’t argue with that, it was too late to call the babysitter anyways. Lian would forgive him, especially if Roy forced Dick to stay with them and look after her while he recovered.

No one could say Roy didn’t know how to parent:

“Pizza sounds good.”

And they would get pizza, and they would cuddle and eat and watch over Dick together. They would make sure their friend was alright, and they would be there for him if he wasn’t.

All of them had grown up, but there was one truth Roy could always count on:

Titans Forever.


End file.
